Writing and Displaying Nations: Constructing Narratives of National Art in Bohemia and Austria-Hungary
Writing and Displaying Nations: Constructing Narratives of National Art in Bohemia and Austria-Hungary

Summary/Abstract: In the nineteenth century, Bohemia, as a part of Austria-Hungary, enjoyed lively interaction between the two main ethnic groups, Germans and Czechs, at various levels of politics and culture. Discussions of what constituted the national art and culture of each ethnic group were particularly important as they provided opportunities to demonstrate the group’s claims regarding its past and present. This text focuses on two key aspects of the conscious creation and re-creation of narratives about Czech and German national heritage and culture in Bohemia; it examines art-historical writing by both Czech and German authors and it investigates tangible displays of art and cultural heritage at regional and national exhibitions. Both of these areas helped to form the Czech national culture, as well as Czech art history, as they were very much influenced by their opposition to the foundations of German heritage in Bohemia.

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